Swimming with B

Brooks has always loved the water. Bath time has always been so much fun for him and he has never minded water in his face. So, we enrolled him in swimming lessons (aka water tots) at our local community center a couple months ago and he is loving it! Now, we use the term "lessons" very loosely. Obviously, there is only so much to be taught at this age, however, we all have a fun time! Matt and I have been taking turns getting in the water with him, and my first time was of course the time they have us dunk them under water for the first time! Just my luck. I looked at Matt and said, "really?! Are you kidding me!" Yes, I dunked him after thinking long and hard about not going through with it and with Matt's strong nod of YES...do it! And in the end Brooks didn't even bat an eye. He's such a trooper. I think mama was more scared than him.

Practicing his back stroke...

Splashing daddy...I love Matt's expression in this pic!

Brooks' First Haircut!

Since Brooks is one now, the time has come to cut my baby's hair. I wanted to wait until after his first birthday since I knew he would look so much bigger afterwards. And that makes me sad. But since I was constantly brushing it out of his eyes, I was as ready as I could be. We were so happy to have Aunt Nicole cut Brooks' hair...which made it so much more special. Thanks Aunt Nicole!

Brooks' 1st Birthday Party!

Brooks' birthday party was so special and we had much fun just watching him be the special little boy that he is. Brooks revealed his bashful side when we started singing to him...he buried his face into my shoulder until the song was over and then looked at everyone smiling! So funny! This past year has been beyond wonderful and we are so thankful and blessed to have Brooks as our little boy. We love him more than words. Happy First Birthday to my baby!

The birthday boy!

Just after singing to him and him burying his face in mama's shoulder!


Getting ready to eat some banana muffin!


Mmm...sooooo good!

Opening his presents...

The cutest little birthday boy I've ever known!



All his ladies (1 and under) - Tatum, Jenna, Brooks, Addison, & Julia

Brooks is ONE!

My baby boy is ONE today! I can't believe it! So much has happened in the past year...and it feels like it flew by, as I knew it would. We feel so blessed to have Brooks. He is one special little boy that we adore more with each passing day. He puts a smile on my face every single morning and we thank God for the amazing gift he is. I fell in love with him the very first moment I saw him that special morning...exactly a year ago today. I am so thankful to be a mommy and feel so blessed to be Brooks' mommy!

We celebrated today by having lunch with daddy. We celebrated with family and friends on Saturday and will post pictures soon.

He was so fun to watch at his dr. appt. on Monday. He is still getting to know Dr. Evans and he makes us laugh every time. He weighs 23lb 2oz and this puts him in the 60% for weight. He is 29 3/4in and this puts him in the 50% for height.

He was helping the Dr. out as he was listening to his chest

He was being very still as his ears were getting checked out

Here's a picture of his first bandage at the doctor's! He got his toe pricked to check his blood. His numbers were a bit low, but the dr. thinks it is his inherited sickle cell trait from daddy. He just watched the nurse as she did the blood collection. Mama was nervous, but thankfully he didn't even realize what was going on. In fact, he took the opportunity in the car on the way home to take the bandaid off himself!

Today was a special day...and I will never forget the day my baby was brought into this world! Even when we are celebrating his 20th birthday, it will always be special. We want to celebrate not only the day he was born, but also the amazing gift of life. The life that God has given us, the health we have been given so that we may enjoy life to it's fullest, and the joy of friends and family to spend this wonderful life with. We love you to pieces, Brooks Matthew Miller. May you always seek after God with your whole heart and love Him more than life. You are our blessing from the Lord and we are forever thankful for you.

Florida Beach Vacation

We just got home from a wonderful, fun-filled vacation to Florida! The weather was a bit chilly, but at least it was warmer than home. Our dear friends, Tim & Sondra, came with us and we had a blast vacationing together. We enjoyed morning walks on the beach, afternoons watching the waves and feeling the crazy wind in our faces, and fabulous dinners out each evening. This trip was extra special since it was Brooks' first time at the beach. He loved feeling the sand and crawling in it! He was pretty good about trying not to eat it - once he discovered he didn't like the taste of it! I was so thankful he didn't get it in his eyes. And I am also very thankful how great of a traveller he is. We can't wait to take him again once he can play more and experience it as a toddler! Being back at the beach, the very same beach I grew up vacationing on, brought back so many fond childhood memories and I can't wait to pass those memories on to Brooks as he gets older. It was nearly next to impossible to pick out a few pictures to post, but I did my best at narrowing it down.

This was Brooks' first time feeling the sand between his fingers

Looks as though mommy needs to buy him some shades...love the lil squinty face!

During one of our morning walks

One of our dinners was at Hog's Breath BBQ...very good but only wish we could have stayed for the live band

One of our many special moments on the beach

Brooks feeling like he is on top of the world with daddy!

Tim & Sondra chillin beachside

This was my personal favorite dinner spot...Harry T's. We sat right on the bay and were able to see dolphins in the water (I somehow missed them!)

Our feet in the sand...couldn't see well through our camera lens, so this was the best I could do at taking this picture

Birthday Celebrations

Here is a quick synopsis of our fun-filled month of February birthday celebrations!

Little Miss Tatum turned 1 on the 15th of February and we attended her fun birthday party.

The birthday girl looovving her frosting!

Tatum and her mama

Brooks and Tatum

On the 13th of February, we celebrated Jason, my sister's husband's 40th birthday. He was surprised to find a house full of his closest family and friends one evening after their family went to dinner. We all had a great time...so great that we didn't take many pictures!

Here is Brooks' typical "hello" face...cracks us up!

And we of course celebrated daddy's birthday on the 14th (picture in previous post). We are looking forward to celebrating the day God brought Brooks into this world...one glorious, magical, blessed day that was! It will be here soon!

11 Months...

Brooks is 11 months old and he has learned so much in the past month it seems. He started crawling the beginning of February and boy is he on the move! He explores everything and everywhere. He is very good at "cruising" and standing for 3-4 seconds on his own. He started climbing the stairs about a week ago and it has been so fun to watch the proud look on his face once he reaches the top! He has began waving hi and bye. He also says dada and mama. I'm pretty sure he knows who dada and mama are now. He hasn't called out to us directly yet, but I'm sure he will soon.

Brooks has come a long way in the food department as well. He has gotten really good at chewing his food. He would spit everything out of his mouth that wasn't baby food for a while but I believed that Brooks would begin eating food soon enough and when he was ready, and sure enough he did just that! All of a sudden it was like something clicked in his brain telling him to chew! His two top front teeth are completely in, but that is it. We are still waiting for those bottom ones.

Brooks loves the outside, even the freezing cold! Just as everyone else is stiffening up from the cold, he is sticking his chin out with a huge smile on his face enjoying every minute! He has always loved the wind in his face - warm or cold. He loves books, as I've previously mentioned. We read together at least 3 times/day. He enjoys turning the pages himself. In one particular book of animals, each page is a picture of an animal. Every time we come to the page with the picture of the panda bear, Brooks gives the panda a kiss! :) I think the panda is his favorite animal so far. Brooks loves to ride on grandpa and daddy's shoulders. He laughs and giggles with such joy every time! He twirls his tongue (something mommy can't do) all the time. He loves to be sung to - especially if someone is singing on TV. He stops what he's doing just to watch. I sing to him often during the day so maybe that's why he seems to like it so much. (Glad to know someone appreciates mommy's singing!) Probably one of the silliest things that Brooks loves is mommy's belly! He pulls my shirt up, gets a huge smile, and buries his face in it every time! I love it! He likes daddy's belly too, but only to pull his hair out! :)

It has been so fun to watch his personality start to really come out the past couple of months. He makes the funniest faces and has such a funny way of letting you know what he wants. He is our sunshine and our sweet, sweet blessing from God.

On a snowy day with mama

He looovvves his nakedness!


Could he get any cuter?!



Celebrating daddy's birthday :)

Happy Birthday to My Love!

Happy Birthday to the Love of my life! Brooks and I adore you. You make us smile and laugh more than anyone else in the world. Thank you for being the most incredible husband, daddy, and best friend. God has truly blessed me with you and I thank Him every day for giving you to me! I tell Brooks just about every day how special his daddy is. It won't be long before he will know this to be true, not because I tell him so, but because he will see, know, and feel it. You are one of a kind! I love you with all of my heart. Happy Birthday Baby!

My Sweet Sleeping Baby...

When we checked on B during his nap one day, this is what we found! How can this be comfortable?! He loves to snuggle and this time was caught snuggling with his bumper! Some parents don't use one, but goodness if I didn't, he'd be hitting his head all the time on the hard wood side rails.

This was just too cute not to share! :)

10 Months...

Today, my baby boy is 10 months old. I am savoring, as with every month, every single day because before long, he will be a little toddler! He said his first word... MAMA! We aren't quite sure if he knows that mama is me, but it seems as though he knows. I am always saying "mama loves you...give mama kisses...come here to mama...etc., so I wouldn't be surprised. He frequently gives kisses and is comprehending more and more everyday. He even gives kisses to the pictures of babies in his books that we read to him! It is so sweet! His teeth are continuing to work their way through and when I put my finger in his mouth today, I could feel it. He still loves to crinkle his nose and pucker his lips...as seen in a picture below of this absolutely adorable face. At 10 months, he is still not excited about any food other than his baby food. And when we have offered a sippy cup, he is more interested in playing with it than drinking anything from it. We are practicing every day so he can drink from a cup rather than a bottle once he is weaned. Enjoy some pictures of our little B-ster...

At the park...NOT a jail! :)

His famous "crinkle nose" smile

Love these chubby leggies

New Year's Eve 2009

Here are a couple pictures from our New Year's Eve celebration at Steve & Jenni's. We always have such a fun time and as you can see, our families are growing! It's so much fun to see all the kids grow up together. This year was our 10th year together celebrating New Years! Can't believe it has been that long! In the picture of the kids, we are missing Isabella...we couldn't snap the picture fast enough! Charity came for a little while but without Michael since his family was in town visiting. We also missed the Vaughters family. Already looking forward to next year with some new additions! :)

Caden, Aden, Tatum, Brooks, Allison, & Abby

Christmas 2009

We had a fabulous Christmas this year...little late with the post, but better late than never! :) Brooks was absolutely adorable in his Santa suit on Christmas Eve that daddy had bought him. We had so much fun opening presents with him on Christmas morning. Brooks actually opened his first gift from us as if he knew what he was doing and smiled the whole time! He was just as much into the gift as he was the paper. We spent the afternoon of Christmas Eve, as we always do since I was a little girl, at my aunt & uncles house and then we go on that evening to my grandpa's. After opening gifts on Christmas morning, we had brunch at my mom & dad's. Here are some of my favorite pictures from this Christmas.

Our little Santa

We started a tradition of opening Christmas Eve PJ's with Brooks...


Christmas morning...


Christmas Day with Madeline & Camille

Brooks was reading about Jesus...he loves to read!

Madeline, Camille, & I

Love this smile!